Category: Albums of the 80s

Today’s Cool Album of the Day is XTC’s, “English Settlement.” I was trying to decide which XTC album to appoint. I’ve decided to go with “English Settlement.” I usually don’t like feature the most popular release by an artist. And I’m not even sure that this is their most popular, but I’m running with it. “English Settlement” is XTC’s fifth studio release. The year was 1982. (What a great period for music. I think this might be about the fifth time I’ve chosen something from that year.) As usual, everything was written by the great Andy Partridge. Not one track stood out from the rest for me. This is one of those discs that just spits ‘em at you....

Today’s Cool album of the Day is Peter Gabriel’s album, “Peter Gabriel.” OK, now that we’ve established that, the next question is…..which one? After Peter departed Genesis, his first four solo releases were all titles simply, Peter Gabriel. Why, he wanted them to be looked at as renewed releases of a magazine. Why did he stop this tradition with his fifth album, “So?” Well, you’ll have to ask David Geffen that question. He pulled rank. (Note: Even thou the fourth edition of the Peter Gabriel magazine collection was labeled as just ‘Peter Gabriel,’ it was widely known as ‘Security.’ So again you ask, Larry? Which one? Well here it’s going to be the third solo album. Sometimes even called,...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day is Rodney Crowell, “Diamonds & Dirt.” Rodney Crowell is one of America’s great singer/songwriters. He’s written hits for Bob Seger (Shame on the Moon), George Strait/Jimmy Buffett (Stars on the Water), Waylon Jennings/EmmyLou Harris (Ain’t Livin’ Long Like This) and on and on. He also saves some good ones for himself. “Diamonds & Dirt” is a fine example.Highlights include: ‘I Couldn’t Leave You If I Tried, She’s Crazy For Leavin’, After All This Time’ and a Duet with then wife Rosanne Cash ‘It’s Such a Small World’ Rodney was a member of the great 70s EmmyLou Harris ‘Hot Band.’ But he also had a hot band of his own. His guitarist during this...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day is Graham Parker and the Shot’s, “Steady Nerves.” Far, Far, Far from being Parker’s most popular album, “Steady Nerves” always was a favorite of mine. This was released in 1985 and I had just gotten my first full time music biz job and I remember this being one of the first ‘promos’ I ever received. Maybe that’s why I played it a bunch. Who knows. It turned out to be his only Electra release. It featured some great tracks like ‘Break Then Down, Wake Up (Next To You), Mighty Rivers’ and ‘Lunatic Fringe.’ Give it a listen…..If you can find it! UPDATE: I believe it’s been re-released. Today’s Cool Album of the Day,...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day is Utopia’s, “Adventures in Utopia” For those of you that don’t know, Utopia is a band led by Philadelphia native, Todd Rundgren. He was joined by Roger Powell on keys, John ‘Willie’ Wilcox on drums and Kasim Sultan on bass. Everybody sang. This was their release of 1980. They were just spitting out the music back then. And Todd, well he was at one of his busiest periods between mid 70’s and say, 1983. Some of my favorite music by him was done during that time. ‘Adventures in Utopia’ follows my pattern of, ‘The tour I saw was often my favorite album by that artist.’ But I’m not sure which was the chicken...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day is Jimmy Hall, “Touch You.” I’m going a little more obscure today with an album that if you don’t have it, you’ll probably never be able to find. “Touch You” is a 1980 release by Jimmy Hall. Jimmy Hall? Jimmy Hall? Where have I heard that name before? You’re right, you have heard that name. Hall was the lead singer of the great Mobile, Alabama band, Wet Willie. (Keep on Smilin’) Following in Wet Willie tradition, “Touch You” was also another funky country album. This had a little more blue eyed soul than when he was in the band. THE song on the album was ‘(I’m Happy That) Love Has Found You.” It’s...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day is Laurie Anderson, “Big Science.” I’ve always liked musicians that try and do something differently. But I loved musicians that do something differently and actually come up with good music! There IS a difference!! Laurie Anderson can really be ‘out there’ sometimes. But she has a vision and can bring it to life. Some would refer to her as a ‘minimalist.’ Feel free if pigeonholing is your thing. Big Science was her first release and I believe, still her most popular. It was released in 1982 and featured the eight minute haunting track, ‘O Superman (For Massenet).’ She later went on to do some more interesting works with the likes of Peter Gabriel...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day is the 1982 Roxy Music album, “Avalon.” You have to wonder what American music buyers are thinking when this album peaks at #53 on the Billboard Top 200 Charts. Yikes.Not as on the edge of progressive rock as some of their earlier releases. This album had more of a lush,… personal sound. Feature the great vocals of Bryan Ferry, guitar of Phil Manzanera, drums by Andy Newmark (with a little help from Rick Marotta), sax of Andy Mackay. Some fantasic backing vocals on the title track Avalon by Yanick Etienne. Other outstanding tracks include the title cut, ‘More Than This, The Main Thing’ and “While My Heart is Still Beating.’ Personnel Bryan Ferry – vocals, keyboards,...

Today’c Cool Album of the Day is Echo and the Bunnymen’s, “Echo and the Bunnymen.” One of my favorites by Ian McCulloch and the boys. My favorite release of 1987. Features ‘Lips Like Sugar, Bombers Bay, Bedbugs and Ballyhoo’ and ‘ The Game.’ Echo and the Bunnymen are usually considered part of the British Post Punk era. I tend to think of them more of a part of the so called New Romanticism style. New Romanticism, to me, was the sound that evolved from from the Roxy Music and Brian Eno sound. see: Ultravox etc. I like Echo in that group. But like we’ve said before in this forum. Who cares what group they’re in. The better question is,...

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Under Heavy Manners” by Robert Fripp with David Byrne After the demise of King Crimson in 1974, Robert Fripp spent several years laying low before entering a period of high activity from 1977-1980, resulting in some of his most interesting collaborations. Starting in 1977, Fripp joined Brian Eno in Germany to add guitar parts to David Bowie’s “Heroes.” This was followed by Fripp’s production of albums for Daryl Hall (Sacred Songs), Peter Gabriel (his second album with the “Scratch” cover) and the eponymously titled album by The Roches, plus sessions with an amalgam of like-minded artists including Peter Hammill (of Van Der Graaf Generator), Brian Eno, Blondie (on Parallel Lines),...